A federal judge on Monday blocked Minnesota officials from enforcing a state campaign finance law on donations.

The Minnesota law’s days were numbered, observers say, after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a separate case last month. That ruling, in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, struck down aggregate contribution limits in federal campaigns.

About a week after it was announced, a group of Minnesota candidates and donors filed a First Amendment challenge to the state’s “special sources” limit, which says no more than 20 percent of the total raised by a candidate can come from political action committees, lobbyists and large donors.

U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank said that he may not agree with the Supreme Court’s decision but that he felt it required him to rule that the four plaintiffs — two Republican state House candidates and two donors — deserve the injunctive relief.

He granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction blocking campaign officials from enforcing the law as applied to individual large donors.

Under Minnesota law, donors are limited in how much they can give to a candidate. The amount varies by the office sought.

For state House of Representatives, for example, it’s $1,000. But once the total of contributions from lobbyists and PACs and large donors hits $12,500 — or 20 percent of the $62,600 spending limit for House races — future donors are restricted to a maximum of $500.

The case was brought by the Virginia-based Institute for Justice on behalf of two donors, Doug Seaton of Edina and Van Carlson of Circle Pines, and two Republican House candidates, Rep. Linda Runbeck of Circle Pines and Scott Dutcher of Brandon.

“The government should not be using campaign finance laws to play favorites,” said lead counsel Anthony Sanders of the Institute for Justice, in a statement. “This ruling means that all Minnesotans who want to support political candidates will enjoy the same rights, no matter when in the election they make their contribution.”

Messages seeking comment from officials at the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, one of the defendants in the case, were not returned.

According to the Institute for Justice, if defendants don’t appeal, the case would get a final ruling later this year or next year.

The Republican National Committee was involved in bringing the McCutcheon case, and Minnesota Republican Party Chair Keith Downey said Monday he supports the state-level extension announced by Judge Frank.

When they review these types of campaign-finance restrictions, “courts are very clearly ruling that that’s a free-speech violation,” Downey said.

State DFL Party Chair Ken Martin said the ruling weakens the state’s campaign-finance system. “The practical reality is that more and more power is being put in the hands of fewer and fewer people,” Martin said. “For democracy’s sake, it’s not the right direction we should be heading in.”

Neither chairman said the ruling would help either party in particular. Martin said it would work to the advantage of incumbents, and Downey said he thought it would have the greatest effect in large campaigns featuring well-funded candidates.

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